Exposure to even low levels of toxic metals may increase a person's risk of plaque buildup in the arteries of their neck, heart and legs, according to a new study published in Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis and Vascular Biology.
Researchers examined data from 1,873 adult patients who participated in the Aragon Workers Health Study in Spain. All patients were treated from 2011 to 2014. Ninety-seven percent of the patients were men, and patient ages ranged from 40 to 55 years old.
The goal of the study was to evaluate the possible role of different individual metals and metal mixtures on the development of atherosclerosis. The authors found that environmental exposure to arsenic, cadmium, titanium—and potentially antimony—was associated with a heightened risk of subclinical atherosclerosis.
Some of these metals can be found in dental and orthopedic implants as well as food and drinking water.
“Metals are ubiquitous in the environment, and people are chronically exposed to low levels of metal,” lead investigator Maria Grau-Perez, MSc, of the Institute for Biomedical Research Hospital Clinic de Valencia INCLIVA in Spain, said in a prepared statement. “According to the World Health Organization, 31% of the cardiovascular disease burden in the world could be avoided if we could eliminate environmental pollutants."
“This study supports that exposure to toxic metals in the environment, even at low-levels of exposure, is toxic for cardiovascular health,” added co-author Maria Tellez-Plaza, MD, PhD, a senior scientist at the National Center for Epidemiology and the Instituto de Salud Carlos III in Spain. “The levels of metals in our study population were generally lower compared to other published studies. Metals, and in particular arsenic, cadmium, and titanium, likely are relevant risk factors for atherosclerosis, even at the lowest exposure levels and among middle-aged working individuals.”
Tellez-Plaza noted that current global environmental, occupational and food safety standards for some metals may be insufficient to protect the population from metal-related adverse health effects.
“Metal exposure prevention and mitigation has the potential to substantially improve the way we prevent and treat cardiovascular disease,” she said.
Read the full study here.